Chronic knee pain is defined as long-term pain, swelling, or sensitivity in one or both knees. The primary causes of severe knee pain are sudden injury, overuse, and arthritis. Sprains and tears of knee ligaments are common injuries causing bad knee pain, especially in athletes. Unfortunately severe knee pain affects people of all ages.
Treatments for Chronic or Severe Knee Pain
Many people these days are very quick to open their medicine cabinet and reach for their medication of choice, be it Tylenol or Advil, to treat their chronic or severe knee pain. Unfortunately the problem with this is that eventually the medication wears off and the pain returns.
Often the pain is so agonizing, that a patient feels like surgery is the only answer. A doctor might even recommend it to you, but surgery should always be a last resort.
Fortunately there are a couple of safer treatments for chronic and severe knee pain that studies* have been shown to be very effective. They are platelet rich plasma (PRP), and stem cell therapy.
Platelet-rich Plasma- Platelet-rich plasma, or PRP for short, is a process where blood is extracted from your body. It is then spun in a centrifuge to separate the plasma from the blood. This plasma is rich in growth factors and healing properties.
The plasma is then reinjected into the problematic area, in this case the knee. PRP injections drastically reduce inflammation to the injured area which results in substantial pain relief. In time, these growth factors begin repairing the damaged tissue.
Stem Cell Therapy- Stem cell therapy is most commonly administered to treat osteoarthritis of the knee. In order to combat a degenerative disease, one should explore regenerative medicine. Stem cells, specifically mesenchymal stem cells (MSCS) can be obtained from adipose, bone marrow, and wharton’s jelly. Stem cells are generally administered via injection into the knee.
They have a unique ability that attracts them to inflammation in the body. Stem cells have been shown to regenerate damaged or diseased tissues, reduce inflammation, and modulate the immune system. They are neutral cells which allow them to differentiate, or turn into various types of cells and tissues. This is what allows them to repair the damaged areas they are injected into.
If you are suffering from chronic or severe knee pain, you may feel like there is no hope. More than likely it is affecting your everyday life. Thankfully there are treatments that will not only relieve the pain, but also begin rebuilding healthy tissue promoting long-term healing. If you want to learn more about treatments for chronic knee pain, please contact us today.
*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7577352/